A seizure may be characterized as abnormal or excessive synchronous activity in the brain. At the beginning of a seizure, neurons in the brain may begin to fire at a particular location. As the seizure progresses, this firing of neurons may spread across the brain, and in some cases, many areas of the brain may become engulfed in this activity. Seizure activity in the brain may cause the brain to send electrical signals through the peripheral nervous system to different muscles, the activation of which may produce an electrical signal.
Techniques designed for studying and monitoring seizures have typically relied upon electroencephalography (EEG), which characterizes electrical signals using electrodes attached to the scalp or head region of a seizure-prone individual or seizure patient. In EEG, electrodes may be positioned so as to measure such activity; that is, electrical activity originating from neuronal tissue. Alternatively, electromyography (EMG) may be used for seizure detection. In EMG, an electrode may be placed on or near the skin, over a muscle, to detect electrical signals from muscle fiber activation.
Detecting an epileptic seizure using electroencephalography (EEG) typically requires attaching many electrodes and associated wires to the head and using amplifiers to monitor brainwave activity. The multiple EEG electrodes may be very cumbersome and generally require some technical expertise to apply and monitor. Furthermore, confirming a seizure requires observation in an environment provided with video monitors and video recording equipment. Unless used in a staffed clinical environment, such equipment is frequently not intended to determine if a seizure is in progress, but rather provide a historical record of the seizure after the incident. Such equipment is usually meant for hospital-like environments where a video camera recording or caregiver's observation may provide corroboration of the seizure, and is typically used as part of a more intensive care regimen such as a hospital stay for patients who experience multiple seizures. A hospital stay may be required for diagnostic purposes or to stabilize a patient until suitable medication can be administered. Upon discharge from the hospital, a patient may be sent home often with little further monitoring.
A patient should in some cases be monitored at home for some length of time in case another seizure should occur. While there presently exist ambulatory devices for diagnosis of seizures, they are EEG-based and are generally not designed or suitable for long-term home use or daily wearability. Other seizure alerting systems may operate by detecting motion of the body, usually the extremities. Such systems may generally operate on the assumption that while suffering a seizure, a person will move erratically and violently. For example, accelerometers may be used to detect violent extremity movements. However, depending upon the type of seizure, this assumption may or may not be true. Electrical signals sent from the brain during the seizure are frequently transmitted to many muscles simultaneously, which may result in muscles fighting each other and effectively canceling out violent movement. In other words, the muscles may work to make the person rigid rather than cause actual violent movement. Thus, the seizure may not be consistently detected with accelerometer-based detectors.
Accordingly, there is a need for an epileptic seizure method and apparatus that can be used in a non-institutional or institutional environment without many of the cumbersome electrodes to the head or extremities. Such an apparatus may be minimally intrusive, minimally interfere with daily activities and be comfortably used while sleeping.